A Cut Flower Cultivation under Saline Conditions: <i>C. morifolium</i> Ramat ‘Bacardi’

Abstract

Chrysanthemum which belongs to Asteraceae is one of the most important ornamental plants in the world. Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat 'Bacardi', a species of this genus, is a very important cut flower used as spray chrysanthemum. Salinity in soil and water is one of the major problems which affect the ornamental aspects and plant growth. It was aimed to determine the effects of salinity on Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat 'Bacardi' by analyzing plant growth, flower characters and some physiological traits in this study. Plants were irrigated with seven different levels of salt concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 mM NaCl) for 75 days with 3 days intervals in pots under greenhouse conditions. The effects of salinity stress on diameter of flower and disc floret, number of bud and flowers, fresh and dry weights of flower, shoot height, shoot fresh and dry weights, stem diameter, lateral shoot (branch) length and number, inter-node length, relative growth rates, loss of turgidity and ion leakage were investigated in this study. Consequently, flower and disc floret diameters, number of flowers, shoot height, shoot and flower fresh and dry weights, stem diameter, branch length and number, inter-node length were drastically decreased, as the salinity increased, especially after 200 mM. On the other hand, ion leakage significantly increased when salt concentrations increased. According to the results, C. morifolium Ramat 'Bacardi' is moderately tolerant cultivar and should not be cultivated as a cut flower up to 150 mM NaCl (highly saline) conditions.